Things We Take Seriously

Regular dental visits. No cavities for either of us! (Mazen looks like a teenager in that chair.)

Wine. These two bottles from Winc are so pretty! (I loved what was inside too!)

This one is another favorite from the wine club:

VIDEOS

Ice cream making. After getting a Cuisinart maker for a wedding gift, we made the pumpkin ginger snap recipe that came in the box – OMG!

It was AMAZING that night, but not as good after we froze the leftovers and tried them again. It got all icy! Any recommendations on how to keep it from frosting over?

Sports! We took Mazen to a UVA men’s soccer game earlier this season (when they played Davidson!) and he had a blast. I’m doing Fantasy Football again and have been doing well! I had Aaron Rogers on my team, so I was bummed when he got injured. I’ve been disappointed in Julio Jones (my #1 pick who has yet to do anything outstanding!) and pleasantly surprised by the Kansas City Defense who pulled me through a win when I had a 3% chance a few weeks ago! (My soccer team had about a 3% chance of winning when we played in pouring down, freezing cold rain a few weeks ago and we pulled it off with a 1-0 win in the end!)

I learned recently that home ice cream makers can’t freeze ice cream as cold as professional models, which makes the finished product more susceptible to iciness.
The book “Hello, My Name Is Ice Cream” by Dana Cree gets deep into ice cream science and includes a number of strategies to combat the problem (and my understanding is that he solution will depend on the other ingredients in your recipe). I borrowed it from the library and now have it on my to-buy list because it seems to answer all my ice cream questions!

I’ve been trying my hand at making homemade ice cream, including the recipe you all made, and learned a few tips that might help. If you put the mixture into the fridge for a couple of hours before pouring it into the maker it seems to make a creamier ice cream. It also seemed to hold up longer in the freezer if I waited to add the cookies as a topping, rather than a mix in. And last it helps keep the ice out if you press the plastic wrap right on top of the ice cream then put the lid on. Hope this helps! Enjoy!

So my personal experience is the more sugar and the more fat in an ice cream the less icy it is. Also I read somewhere if you swap out at least part of the regular sugar with corn syrup that helps (and has seemed to in the ice cream we make). Other syrup-consistency sweeteners might work (agave, honey, maple syrup…) but I don’t know for sure. I was going to do a little experimenting with that this winter while making ice cream for pie ala mode. Honestly, I used mine CONSTANTLY in the summer… but not for ice cream. I would dump whatever I wanted to drink in there until I got nice and slushy (often La Croix with a splash of lemonade and occasionally gin). You could make anything into a convenience store slushy (just don’t try to save any leftovers unless you just freeze them into ice cubes and use them as such).

I’m going to second the invert sugar idea! There are lots of reasons why our homemade ice cream freezes icier than store bought(and all the above ideas are good-esp. the vodka.doesnt have to be much!)-but sub some corn syrup,honey(molasses would be great in that pumpkin recipe) for some of the sugar(not all).I have made ice cream both at home and in restaurants and that’s what worked best for us.Thats why commercial ice creams add guar gums and such !
Enjoy your ice cream maker.Makes me want to make some.Eggnog would be great(and booze will keep it soft…)

A good container and more fat-heavy dairy (like cream) will help with ice crystals. Also, because we are using less preservatives (presumably!) at home, it will “go bad”, ie freezer burn, faster. I think a glass container may get too cold as well – a good plastic container is best if you are making enough to store for a few days.

I think the ice cream trick is to keep as much moisture out of and away from all ingredients, measuring cups, spoons, etc. You don’t want any unwanted water or droplets in the ice cream. And then use parchment or wax paper directly on top of the ice cream before you put your storage lid on it to press out any excess air before freezing.

And I love crazy salads so much! I haven’t been there in years, but California Pizza Kitchen used to have a pizza that came with a big mound of caesar salad on top, and i loved it.

I just made ice cream with the same machine last week. I stored it in a glass pyrex mixing bowl with plastic wrap pressed very tightly against the surface and then the plastic lid. Worked perfectly…no iciness! Also, I have heard that adding a little vodka (~1Tbsp) will keep it from freezing too solidly. Hope that helps!